26/08/08
Leading CEO’s of international technology companies in Canterbury shared with educationalists the key skills they look for in graduates and PhD students at an ECN network meeting held in August at the HitLab NZ.
Andrew Plimmer of HIT Lab NZ (The Human Interface Technology Laboratory New Zealand) conducts research with new emerging technologies such as Augmented Reality and Next Generation Video Conferencing and other User Interfaces. Andrew made it clear that students need to be passionate about what they do in order to succeed and solve real world problems. The ability to see an opportunity and take action was paramount in his industry.
Dr David Parks of The Geospatial Research Centre (GRC) has identified the need for employees to have flexibility, the ability to work and contribute to a team, have a go, take action and have an understanding of client’s business needs.
Having the empathy and understanding of what clients need and the ability to be able to communicate with them effectively is key commented Murray Price, South Island Manager, IBM.
HOD Technology teacher from Hagley commented, ‘how important it is to help students identify learning areas that they are passionate about as this keeps them in school. They also emphasised how important a real context is to learning, as this gives relevance and the ideas are ultimately sustainable.’
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